1 88 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 428. 



to six inch pots they grow into a convenient size for almost any 

 kind of decorative work. To some of the plants we allow only 

 one stem, and these make a perfect column two feet high. 

 Others are stopped and grow mostly into pyramidal form, and 

 some into compact bushes. Old bushes soon get leggy and 

 out of shape. C. elegans, the silver-leaved kind, is by far the 

 handsomest. It is generally found difficult to root. By stump- 

 ing an old plant in and taking stem cuttings with a heel we 

 have never had any difficulty in rooting it. 



A few small plants of Rhodotypus kerrioides have been 

 blooming in a cold frame since the first of April. No doubt, 

 this handsome Japanese shrub would be well adapted for 

 forcing in the same way as Deutzias, and would be a valuable 

 addition to the limited number of shrubs available for this pur- 

 pose ; so also will the Crimson Rambler Rose. All who saw 

 the specimen exhibited by Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, at the spring show of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society were delighted with it. 



Old stools of Japanese Anemones in pots are starting in cold 

 frames. Last spring they were repotted, and we intend to 

 carry them through this season with a top-dressing of rich soil 

 and liquid-manure later. We shall keep them in cold frames 

 until all danger of frost is past, as experience has shown that 

 they easily become blighted by even light spring frosts. Such 

 disfigurement will last a whole season. 



Violets and Carnations will be planted out as soon as the 

 work can be readied. Such frost as there shall yet be will not 

 injure them. Of Violets we shall grow only the Farquhar 

 for dark blue. This Violet will entirely supersede the Marie 

 Louise. It is superior in size of bloom and length of stem, 

 and in color it is equal. So far as tested it has proved easy to 

 manage. 



The bulk of stock used for winter blooming in the green- 

 house can be planted out for the summer. In this respect we 

 have the advantage of the English gardener, who must grow 

 many of these plants in pots under glass. Mignonette, Sweet 

 Alyssum and Shirley Poppies will be sown, and Stocks, Asters, 

 Coreopsis Drummondii, Scabious, Phlox cuspidata, Verbenas, 

 Marigolds, Zinnias and other useful annuals for cutting will be 

 planted out as soon as settled weather comes. These we 

 keep together. Last year we found Caryopteris mastacanthus 

 valuable for cutting in the autumn, as well as being a useful 

 plot-plant. The graceful sprays of sweet-scented lavender- 

 blue flowers are very effective. 



Wellesley, Mass. J ■ D- Hatfield. 



Helleborus orienta'is. — Besides the Christmas Rose, the genus 

 Helleborus contains several very showy and attractive species, 

 known in England under the name of Lenten Roses, because 

 they flower during the Lenten season. With us they are some- 

 what later unless grown in a cool frame, when they may be 

 had in great profusion at Easter. The species most beautiful 

 as well as most varied is the not uncommon Helleborus 

 orientalis, which grows somewhat taller than the Christmas 

 Rose, producing more slender and leafy stems, each bearing 

 several large rose-colored flowers. As in the case of all 

 Hellebores, the sepals form the showy part of the flower ; 

 they are from three-quarters of an inch to an inch long, 

 rounded and spreading, of a dull rosy color, persistent, and 

 gradually becoming green. The leaves are evergreen, 

 smaller, and with more narrow segments than those of the 

 Christmas Rose ; pedate, with about nine oblong-lanceolate 

 segments, which are coarsely toothed or serrated. There are 

 some beautiful varieties, merely differing in size and color, 

 such as Guttatus, with large white flowers, the sepals of which 

 are dotted all over with small rose-purple spots; Punctatus, 

 with smaller and more numerous dots ; Antiquorum, almost 

 pure white, slightly tinged with red and greenish gray. As all 

 the Hellebores are woodland flowers, delighting in moist veg- 

 etable soil, in rocky woods, where the air is continually cool 

 and moist, they should be treated accordingly. The leaves 

 are best preserved in somewhat shady positions, but the 

 plants flower more abundantly in moderately sunny places, if 

 not too dry. Rocky borders of small streams, under decidu- 

 ous trees, offer many opportunities for growing these charm- 

 ing plants successfully in ideal positions. 



Anemone ranunculoides.— One of the most common, as well 

 as most attractive, spring flowers of northern Europe is the 

 Golden Windflower, Anemone ranunculoides, which flowers 

 considerably later than the common white Windflower, among 

 which it grows. It is seldom, if ever, found in low, flat woods, 

 preferring steep hillsides, where it grows in rich leaf-soil in 

 comparatively deep shade. The leaves are smoother, less cut 

 than those of A. nemorosa, palmately three or five parted, 

 with deeply toothed almost trifid segments. The stem-leaves, 



forming the involucre, are tripartite, petiolate, shiny green. 

 The flowers, which, in favorable positions, measure nearly an 

 inch across, are bright golden-yellow, from one to three on a 

 stem. The plant grows from five to eight inches high ; the 

 creeping rhizome is rather thick and fleshy, producing several 

 leaves. I have never seen this handsome species in American 

 gardens, but it would, however, prove a very charming acqui- 

 sition, providing its naturalization is possible. 



Newark, N.J. N.J.R. 



Pitcairnia. — This genus includes many handsome plants, and 

 although they are easy to grow and have large showy flowers 

 and bracts, specimens are rarely seen outside of a botanic gar- 

 den. The genus belongs to the Pineapple family and is nearly 

 related to the Tillandsias. While they come from tropical 

 America they are grown here in a temperature ranging from 

 fifty to fifty-five at night, along with Billbergias, /Echmeas 

 and Tillandsias. They do best in a position where they 

 have plenty of light, and in bright weather require frequent 

 syringing. The compost for potting them should consist of 

 fibrous loam, chopped fern-root, leaf-mold and sand in equal 

 parts. It is important to have the pots clean and well drained, 

 as the plants need plenty of water while they are growing. 

 For the past three or four weeks a large plant of Pitcairnia 

 Altensteinii has been attractive and much admired. The plant 

 has a very short stem, but it has graceful leaves which meas- 

 ure three feet and a half in length and about two and a half 

 inches in breadth. The inflorescence is a simple subspicate 

 raceme, and the peduncle measures two feet in length. The 

 bright red bracts on the peduncles are about two inches in 

 length, and long after the flowers are gone they retain their 

 clear color. Indeed, the bracts are more showy than the 

 flowers. The corolla is long and narrow, measuring about 

 three inches, and of a whitish color. This showy Pitcairnia 

 was introduced from western Venezuela in 1840. It is some- 

 times found under the generic name Puya and also as Pitcairnia 

 undulatifolia. 



Botanic Garden, Harvard University. R. Cameron. 



Correspondence. 



Potato Blight. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I have just read with interest Bulletin 113 of the Cor- 

 nell Experiment Station. This bulletin treats of Potato diseases, 

 and among others describes and figures the " early blight " as it 

 occurs at Ithaca. My interest in this topic was increased by 

 the fact that I have now in press a bulletin on Potato blights, 

 the publication of which has been delayed some time await- 

 ing engravings. Among these illustrations which are to 

 appear in our bulletin is one agreeing essentially in the dis- 

 eased characters of the leaf with the beautifully colored plate 

 which Mr. Lodeman has labeled " Early Blight." The condi- 

 tions represented in our leaf (and they are unquestionably the 

 same in the leaf figured in the Cornell bulletin) are, however, 

 distinctly different from the " Macrosporium blight," or 

 " early blight," as that disease has been described in various 

 parts of America, France, New Zealand and Germany. It will 

 only add more confusion to a subject already sadly confused 

 if we do not sharply distinguish the two disorders. To this in 

 my lectures before students and farmers' institutes during the 

 past winter I have used the name " Tip-burn " of the potato, to 

 designate this latter trouble as distinguished from the true 

 "early blight" or Macrosporium " spot disease." In fact, we 

 must distinguish at least four, and, perhaps, five, distinct forms 

 of the so-called " blighting" of Potato leaves, which commonly 

 occur in the north-eastern United States. So far we have 

 names for but two. Of these the "late" or Phytophthora 

 blight is now quite generally recognized and distinguished. 

 Beyond this all is confusion, since the term "early blight," as 

 popularly used, has been broadened to cover all forms of pre- 

 mature dying Potato leaves from causes other than attacks of 

 the fungus Phytophthora infestans. I was thoroughly im- 

 pressed with this fact during a trip made to Wisconsin last Au- 

 gust, in which I had opportunity to examine blighting Potatoes 

 at various points along the way. Upon my return I wrote to 

 each of the experiment stations in north-eastern United States 

 asking for specimens of Potato leaves showing the Macros- 

 porium or "early blight" as it occurred in that locality. The 

 material thus collected, together with a considerable amount 

 collected in other ways during the past four years, has been 

 carefully studied by my assistant, Mr. Tracy, and myself. The 

 diseased conditions represented clearly fall into several classes 

 as to cause. These are : 



